Kerala Blasters Youth and Academy

Kerala Blasters Youth and Academy is the youth system of the Kochi based club Kerala Blasters which participates in the Indian Super League .It currently consists of three teams from three age groups, the Under-18, Under-15 and Under-13.[1] The U-18 team participates in the Elite league which is the top level of youth football in India.[1] The U-15 and U-13 team participates in the Hero Juniors League and Hero Sub-Juniors League respectively.The U-15 side also participates in the Kerala U-15 Academy League.

Kerala Blasters Youth
Full nameKerala Blasters Football Club Youth
Nickname(s)Manjappada (Yellow Army)
Young Blasters
Founded11 August 2015 (2015-08-11)
Ground
Capacity
  • 5,000
OwnerKerala Blasters FC
CEOVacant
Head coachRenjith TA(U-18)
Vacant(U-15)
Vacant(U-13)
LeagueElite League (U-18);
Juniors League(U-15);
Sub Juniors League(U-13)

History

Inception and early years:2015–2019

In association with the Kerala Football Association, the Kerala Blasters announced the opening of 25 football schools throughout Kerala.[2] In addition to the schools, the club announced that they would also hold weekend grassroots leagues for children under-10 to under-16 and the start of a residential academy in the future.[2] The first Kerala Blasters Football School was inaugurated on August 11, 2015, at Ambedkar Stadium Kochi after 15 months which the club was founded.[3] Later, three more schools were opened in Trivandrum, Calicut and Thrissur as a part of the clubs upcoming youth academy system.Former Irish International Terry Phelan was appointed as the head of the grassroots.[4] In 2017, Thangboi Singto was appointed as the technical director of the youth.[5] In the same year itself, their U-18 and U-15 teams began to participate in the Elite League and Juniors League respectively.The U-18 team became the runners up of the 2017-18 Youth League in their first ever appearance while the U-15 side managed to reach the play offs.In 2018, the U-13 side started to participate in the Sub-Juniors League.

KB Young Blasters:2019–present

In 2019 Blasters rejuvenated their youth system.They launched the KB Young Blasters and appointed Mario Marinică as the technical director of the youth.[6]As a part of this, a residential academy was also launched for the first time.[7]Blasters also announced that they will launch India's first ever goalkeeping academy in Kochi headed by John Burridge [8][9]

Under-18

Kerala Blasters U18 (Kerala Blasters 'C')

The Kerala Blasters Under-18 team play in the Elite League (then Youth League U18). They are also the second reserve team of the club or the Kerala Blasters C. The team's best performance came in 2018 as they finished finalists in the 2017–18 season of the league. Best performers in the side are promoted to the Kerala Blasters Reserves squad.

Current squad

Source[10]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
GK Muheet Shabir
DF Shifas KF
DF Ibnu Shaharath
DF Muhammed Jiyad
DF Lalramenpuia Ralte
DF Abdul Badiah
DF Naorem Nanao
DF Phujam Sanathoi
DF Athul Ganesh
No. Position Player
MF L Doungel
MF Yunus Shaikh
MF Sanoop C
MF Jose Praveen
MF Abdul Raheeb
MF Mohammed Azhar
MF Abdul Raheeb
MF Zayed Bin Waled
MF Akash Ravi
FW Nihal Sudeesh

Elite Youth League U18 Statistics of Kerala Blasters U18

Season Position Top Scorer Goals Notes
2017–18 Runners-up Adharsh AS 8 First Appearance
2018–19 Playoffs Surag Chhetri 9

Under-15

Kerala Blasters U15

Kerala Blasters Under-15 side participates in the Hero Juniors League(Elite U15) and Kerala U15 Academy League. The U15 side has young kids filtered from all of Kerala and around other states of India. The Young Blasters had a tremendous run in 2018–19 season of the Elite U15 League (Juniors League) when they made it to the semi-finals of the competition. The U15 Blasters team was coached by Shameel Chembakath from the beginning.He left the club in 2020

Current squad

Source[11]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
DF Vasudev M
DF Mohammee Ziyad
MF Joshua K Denny
MF MK Ansari
MF Pranay Dhamal
MF Adityan A
MF Faris Ali
MF Muhammed Mahin
MF Al Shameem
No. Position Player
MF Naeef Rahman
MF Muhammed Faris
FW Muhammed Akhthar
FW Lian Thangkhum
FW Athul K
FW Safar K

Hero Juniors League Statistics of Kerala Blasters U15

Season Position Top Scorer Goals Notes
2017–18 Playoffs Joshua NJ,Anandu N 3 First Appearance
2018–19 Semi-finals Christopher Rajkumar 10

Under-13

Kerala Blasters U13

The Under-13 side of Blasters Play in the Hero Sub-juniors League(Elite U13). The U13 Side has a Promising youngsters mainly from the state of Kerala and also other parts of India selected from Kerala Blasters Summer Football Camps.

Current squad

Source[12]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
GK Sharon J
GK Saviyol Varghese
GK Navaneeth MS
DF Harish Chandra
DF Muhammed Mifraah
DF Adam Jose
DF Said Hydrose
MF Roshan B
MF Shreyas Lal
No. Position Player
MF Abhiram A
MF Jithin Reji
FW Abdul Akmal
FW Suryadas P
FW Nilan Shijil
FW Ashwarath S Nath
FW Athul K Chandran
FW Adhil Ashref

Hero Sub-Juniors League Statistics of Kerala Blasters U13

Season Position Top Scorer Goals Notes
2018–19 Round 3 Lian Thangkhum 4 First Appearance

Current technical staff
Position Name
Academy director Mario Marinica
Under 18 head coach Renjith TA[13]
Under 15 head coach Vacant
Under 13 head coach Vacant
Director of goalkeeping academy John Burridge[14]

Technical directors
Time span Name
2015–2016 Terry Phelan
2017–2019 Thangboi Singto
2019- Mario Marinică

Honours
  • Elite League(Youth League U18)
Runners-up (1): 2017–18 (Kerala Blasters U18)

See also

References
  1. "Kerala Blasters Football Club". www.the-aiff.com. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  2. Rayan, Stan (1 July 2017). "KBFC to start 25 football schools". The Hindu. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  3. Bhattacharya, S. (2015-07-27). "Blasters hoping to kick-off a grassroots revolution in Kerala". www.sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  4. "Indian Super League: Kerala Blasters Football Schools inaugurated in Kochi | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  5. "Thangboi Singto signs for Kerala Blasters as Assistant Coach & Technical Director for Youth!". Arunava about Football. 2017-06-25. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  6. "KBFC Young Blasters announces Mario Marinica as Technical Director". Indian Super League. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  7. "Spurred by new residential academy, Kerala Blasters gear-up for Hero Junior League semifinal | Hero I-League". Retrieved 2020-06-06.
  8. Jul 8, Rayson Tennyson | TNN |; 2019; Ist, 20:48. "Kerala Blasters to start India's first goalkeeping academy | Football News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2020-06-06.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. "ISL: Kerala Blasters' John Burridge out to repeat his legacy in Indian football | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 2020-06-06.
  10. "Kerala Blasters Football Club". www.the-aiff.com. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  11. "Kerala Blasters Football Club". www.the-aiff.com. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  12. "Kerala Blasters Football Club". www.the-aiff.com. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  13. "Kerala Blasters". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2020-06-06.
  14. "Kerala Blasters to launch first-of-its-kind Goalkeeping Academy in Kochi". Indian Super League. Retrieved 2020-06-06.
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